Environment shipping claim misleads

Yet again we see elements of the environmental movement deliberately setting out to mislead and misinform Australians in regard to environmental approvals (“Queensland, WA botch two big projects", AFR, January 16).

The Wilderness Society’s national director, Lyndon Schneiders, does not paint an accurate picture of the Queensland Co-ordinator-General’s approval of the South of Embley bauxite project on Cape York.

Mr Schneiders, through his January 16 article, wrongly claimed the South of Embley mine would cause an additional 600 shipping movements through the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park annually. This figure is wrong and, I repeat, misleading. Here are the facts:

Rio Tinto’s latest environmental impact statement is consistent with the information considered on pages 84 and 85 of the Co-ordinator-General’s report.

The Queensland government is well aware of shipping movements between the proposed mine and Gladstone.

The additional shipping to Gladstone associated with the South of Embley mine amounts to an additional 30 ships a year to the total 270.

The total approved throughput of both Gladstone refineries has not changed since the approval of the Yarwun refinery expansion by both the state and Commonwealth governments in 1999.

I suggest Mr Schneiders and his alarmist peers take the time to read the Co-ordinator-General’s report before making outrageous claims.